The popular route for recreational travelers between Galice and Agness isn't usually open until Memorial Day weekend.

"This is about a week before we originally anticipated it would be open," he said. "Most of the snow fell early in the season. And we've have had a spate of warm weather this spring. The sun helped us out a lot."

So did a construction firm which needed to move a road grader from the Rogue Valley to Gold Beach, he said, noting the company used the grader to remove snow from the road.

"We didn't have any of the large slides or other impediments in the road this year as we have had in past years," he said.

In past years, several people attempting to take the route during its annual closure have run into trouble. In December 2006, James Kim of San Francisco died of exposure while seeking help for his family after their car bogged down in the snow. The Kims apparently were unaware the road is closed in winter and not a main highway.

Since then, the Forest Service and the BLM have added a half-dozen large warning signs, two informational kiosks and a series of mile markers along the route to help drivers unfamiliar with the mountain road.